Casey Stoner’s 2011 MotoGP championship was his second, coming four years after his first title with Ducati. In his own assessment, however, its importance went beyond adding another crown to his career. The Honda success answered the doubts that had followed his earlier championship: doubts over whether the rider or the Ducati package had been responsible for winning it.

Stoner recalled that Ducati possessed major advantages during the early 800cc era. Its engine was regarded as the strongest, while the Bridgestone tyres it used were considered better than the Michelins fitted to its rivals. He believed that the attention given to those strengths left too little credit for his own talent. Moving to Honda and winning the championship in his first season with the manufacturer therefore carried a distinctly personal meaning.

That achievement was not presented by Stoner as the work of one rider. He stressed that championships belong to the whole team, with the rider carrying those people with him in both victory and defeat. Even so, he described the Honda title as a source of great pride. Honda, he said, had gone a long time without that kind of success before the partnership produced a championship.

A championship secured in unusual circumstances

The way the 2011 crown was secured added another layer to the story. Stoner was racing at his home grand prix on his birthday when Jorge Lorenzo crashed in the morning Warm Up and injured the top of his left ring finger. Lorenzo then took no part in the race.

Lorenzo’s absence changed Stoner’s priorities immediately. His initial goal had been to win, but he now needed only to finish inside the top four to secure the championship. The race itself then became more demanding. Stoner felt comfortable enough in the dry to believe victory was within reach, but rain arrived later and a number of riders crashed.

That left Stoner managing two opposing impulses: protecting the title and still trying to win in front of his home crowd. He described the race as a constant calculation over how hard to push and how much risk to accept. The result was also his fifth consecutive win at that circuit, adding a sporting milestone to a day already defined by his birthday, a rival’s injury and changing conditions. For Stoner, the Honda championship stood out not only because of the result, but because it linked the title to the rider and the team as well as to the motorcycle.